


The River

by criminycakes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bruises, Dom/sub Undertones, Feelings, Friendship/Love, Getting Together, I Don't Even Know, Light BDSM, Love Bites, M/M, Mild Painplay, One Shot, Pain, Painplay, Sort Of, just a short...thing?, that doesn't really go anywhere?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 08:17:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12295128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/criminycakes/pseuds/criminycakes





	The River

Yamaguchi twisted the denim of his jeans into stiff rolls at his knees and dipped his feet into the river. He swished them back and forth against the current and dared himself to stretch them downward until they hit mud. He felt Tsukishima staring at the bruises on his calves – patches of purple and blue, shallow rings of yellow, still-healing welts – but when Yamaguchi glanced up his friend's eyes were carefully fixed on the surface of the water. The light glinted off the frames of Tsukishima's glasses and lit up his blond hair in a soft frizzy halo. Yamaguchi wanted to skim his hands over it, wanted to touch the sun-warmed skin at the nape of Tsukishima's neck. He turned away, not wanting his thoughts to show on his face. He scolded himself for being a lustful inappropriate scavenger, an alley cat yowling and rummaging through their friendship for scraps. They were just friends. Close friends. Close friends that had kissed once when they were half-asleep.  
  
His bruises ached and he could see Tsukishima looking out of the corner of his eye. It made him feel vulnerable. He wanted it. The sunshine scalded his knees and the top of his head. He rubbed his legs absentmindedly and heard Tsukishima tsk in annoyance.  
  
'Is that intentional or subconscious?'  
  
'Hm?'  
  
Tsukishima squinted peevishly at him. 'Are you showing off or are you looking to get a reaction?'  
  
Yamaguchi blinked. He loved it when Tsukki was mean. 'No, I - '  
  
'Look, Yamaguchi, just say it. Just ask me to look at your bruises.' His tone snapped against the air like a rubber band and Yamaguchi fought the urge to smile and curl up into that venom like the alley cat he was. Tsukishima shot him a look that clearly said _feigning incomprehension is not an option_. Yamaguchi sighed and swallowed hard. When Tsukki set his mind to something it was better to bite the bullet and play along. He felt his face go red as he opened his mouth. 'Look at - '  
  
'Ask nicely, Yamaguchi.'  
  
Yamaguchi dithered pointlessly. Tsukishima was the light at the end of the tunnel and if Yamaguchi followed him he would end up where he needed to be. He met Tsukishima's eyes and saw an almost tender patience behind the demand. He didn't even bother to waste his time feeling nervous. Tsuki was in the driver's seat and he was merely a passenger of his own helplessness.  
  
'Tsuki, will you please look at my bruises?' Feeling heavier than usual, wondering if it was the right thing to do, he lifted his legs from the water and, turning to his friend, spread them, heart pounding. He let the water drip and soak into his pants. He wanted Tsukishima's eyes on him. It was like hunger.  
  
'There. Wasn't that easy?' Tsukishima gave Yamaguchi's legs a cursory glance and then returned to staring at the water. Abandoned, Yamaguchi felt his face fall. Was he allowed to move his legs back? Or did he have to suffer through being ignored? He felt lumpy, repulsive, and fragile. An oyster ripped from its shell. The calcified valves of his heart shuddered open. Shut. Open. He hated it. Tsukishima's unconcerned profile made him feel nauseous. At the same time, he couldn't move. His legs were stone and frozen in place. He desperately needed Tsukishima to look at him, even if it was in disgust. What was it that Yachi always told him? It's okay to ask for what you need. Communicate. He felt his heart beating in his throat.  
  
'Tsuki.'  
  
'Mm.'  
  
'I want you to keep looking.' A tense pause. 'Please keep looking?'  
  
Tsukishima turned to him with an unreadable expression. Yamaguchi's slippery mollusc heart slid between his ribs. 'Tell me why you want me to look.'  
  
Yamaguchi squirmed. He cursed Tsukishima for prying him open without laying a finger on him. It was excruciating. He'd rather strip naked in front of an entire auditorium than have to answer that question. Given the lack of auditoriums and Tsukishima's expectant silence, he closed his eyes and forced himself to speak. 'It...makes me feel good.' As soon as he said it he felt relief run cool through his veins.  
  
'Open your eyes and tell me why.'  
  
Yamaguchi opened his eyes, his last shreds of both shame and dignity washed away by the undertow that was Tsukishima. It hurt to look at him. He thought about it for a moment. 'I'm proud of them. I want people to see them.' He felt breathless.  
  
Tsukishima smiled and reached out to trace over a bruise with the tip of his finger. It was warmer than Yamaguchi expected. Yamguchi's shoulders relaxed even though he wasn't used to Tsukishima touching him. His friend wasn't physically demonstrative by nature and even though they had grown up together Yamaguchi could count on one hand the number of times Tsukishima had touched him. And he remembered each time. He stared at Tsukishima and tried not to shake with want.  
  
'Yamaguchi, has anyone ever told you how weird you are?' Tsukishima was engrossed in visually mapping Yamaguchi's bruises.  
  
'Yes. You, mostly.'  
  
A sudden smile. Flash of light. Yamaguchi's skin tingled all over. Yes, that was right. Yamaguchi was an incurable weirdo, a freak, an outcast. He was cobbled together of rusted mismatched parts. And someone was looking at all of this and touching him anyway.  
  
'How far up do these bruises go?'  
  
'Only to there,' Yamaguchi lied.  
  
Tsukishima squeezed a bruise on his ankle and Yamaguchi yelped, more from the shock than the dull ache. His ankle was a tool in Tsukishima's beautiful hands and he reveled in the feeling. He had rarely felt so relaxed.  
  
'Don't lie to me, Tadashi.' He only ever used Yamaguchi's name when he wanted something. Against his will, arousal punched through Yamaguchi and spread beneath his skin like a network of rhizomes. He lowered his gaze to Tsukishima's shirt collar.  
  
'Sorry, Tsuki.' And he was.  
  
'Do you want to show me the rest of them? Be honest.' Tsukishima's hand stilled and waited. Yamaguchi considered it. This felt like a crossroads. Each moment up until this one could be catalogued under friendship, albeit an unconventional one. Yamaguchi thought about saying no. Tsukishima would coolly take his hand off of Yamaguchi's body, Yamaguchi would turn back to the water to dip his feet, the blush would fade from his cheeks, and they would return to sitting side by side. Their friendship would continue as it always had. Yamaguchi would dream about kissing Tsukishima and the longing would stay wedged in his throat.  
  
Yamaguchi often suspected that Tsukishima knew of his feelings and despised him for never acting on them. Occasionally he would feel toyed with, as if Tsukishima were trying to bait him into being brave. But maybe that was his own overactive imagination. Tsukishima waited curiously. Yamaguchi's desire to feel Tsukishima's eyes and hands on him outweighed his fear.  
  
'Yes,' he finally answered. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. 'Yes, I want to show you.'  
  
A nod. 'Show me, then.'  
  
Tiny oyster heart in throat, Yamaguchi undid the button and zip on his jeans and leaned back on his elbows to shimmy them off. He was ridiculously aware of his breathing, and of his underwear and socks. He was senseless with terror. He split, then, dizzily spinning out of himself. Everything was suddenly miles away. He didn't recognize the movements of his own hands. He was above himself, looking down at two boys on a riverbank. Then Tsukishima touched him and he snapped violently back into his body. He felt everything. And just like that, his fear was blown out of his body like dead leaves in a gale.  
  
Tsukishima's hand ghosted over a large irregular bruise on his inner thigh, then higher, until it stopped on a thin red mark, the impression of braided cord still indented in Yamaguchi's skin, which was trembling. _Slide your hand higher,_ he begged silently. _Touch me. Touch me._  
  
'Yamaguchi.'  
  
'Hm?'  
  
'Can I make one?'  
  
Yamaguchi lifted his head to stare. 'A bruise?' Tsukishima looked almost...embarrassed. Yamaguchi felt something electric in the bottom of his belly. 'Yes.'  
  
'Close your eyes, then.'  
  
Yamaguchi didn't. Tsukishima squinted at him and huffed in annoyance but didn't force the issue. He shuffled closer to Yamaguchi, settling almost between his open legs, and then, to Yamaguchi's astonishment, lowered his head and brought his mouth to a stretch of unmarked skin on Yamaguchi's thigh. And then, carefully, precisely, he bit down.  
  
Yamaguchi's breath caught and he squirmed. The pain, dull and sharp at the same time, spread the length of his thigh. It crested in hot waves and made his arms go weak. Tsukishima's mouth was warm, his skin was soft, and his teeth were cutting into Yamaguchi. His brain screamed _don't stop don't stop please don't stop -_  
  
Tsukishima pulled back to look clinically at his handiwork, then up at Yamaguchi. His pupils dilated. Yamaguchi realized he was hard, and that Tsukishima could see everything. He was breathing harshly, his lungs were two gashes, his body wanted more, everything, always.  
  
'Keep going. Please, Tsuki.' He hardly knew what he was saying. His head was lolling backward. He couldn't fully open his eyes. He felt like he had swallowed a bottle of cough syrup, the kind that warned you not to drive or operate machinery. He tried to open his eyes properly and say something else, but all that came out was a little humming sound.  
  
Instead of acquiescing, Tsukishima pressed into the fresh bruise with steady hands. Spikes of pain shot through Yamaguchi's leg. He gasped and let out a noisy breath. Tsukishima stared at him with an expression Yamaguchi hadn't seen him wear before: his eyes glittered and his cheeks were flushed. Yamaguchi wanted to look Tsukishima in the eye but his own eyes refused to focus. His body pulsed red and hot. His arousal punched at him. It hurt but it didn't hurt enough. He pressed his leg upward into Tsukishima's fingers.


End file.
